Beneath a Familiar Veneer by Forsaken Tenshi

Beneath a Familiar Veneer

Inuyasha characters do no belong to me but to Takahashi Rumiko.

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Halloween Drabble/Drawble Night: October 31, 2011

Theme: Candy Bowl

Word Count: 100 words each

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Prompt 1: 1.) Dots; 2.) Mounds; 3.) Snickers

Sesshoumaru blinked, the only outward sign of his confusion.  A strange scent wafted in the air, and the faintest tingle of magic fluttered across his senses.  His gold eyes swept across the interior of his domain, and he wondered why there was such disarray in his usually impeccable household.

Candy wrappers dotted the floor of the foyer.  The colorful wrappers of various sweets were scattered in a rather strange arrangement: some were clustered in small mounds, while others were haphazardly littered throughout the spaces in between.

The sound of a pair of snickering giggles echoed quietly from his living room.

Prompt 2: 4.) Spree; 5.) Now and Later

Earlier today his wife and daughter had gone on a shopping spree.  He had come home expecting to find the two females in his life parading their booty for his opinion, yet neither of them had greeted him at the door.  Setting his briefcase down and slipping off his shoes, Sesshoumaru made his way towards the living room.

When he reached the doorway, he was puzzled: no scent, no magical tang hung in the air.  Hide and seek seemed to be the theme of the day.  He would let them hide now, but he would most assuredly find them later.

Prompt 3: 6.) Butterfinger; 7.) Sugar Daddy; 8.) Nerds

Their laughter continually evaded him.  If he ever had butterfingers, physically or otherwise, this would describe his situation perfectly.  He was completely, utterly baffled.

How are they keeping one step ahead?  And they call me the nerd, he mentally grumbled, I’m just the sugar daddy for the both of them.

And he was.  He worked long hours at the company he owned, making enough to ensure his wife and daughter wanted for nothing.  But even then he made sure he spent time with both, proving time and again that he loved them more than anything else the in the world.

Prompt 4: 9.) Slo Poke; 10.) Dum-Dums

It did not matter.  Regardless of how fast he chased, he was never fast enough.  Their giggles escaped his clutches, constantly outpacing him by the slightest of margins.  Gradually their laughter began to taunt him.  Slowpoke, the giggles implied, you really are a dum-dum if you haven’t figured it out yet.

Sesshoumaru grit his teeth in frustration, biting back curses as his annoyance grew.  Some time ago his human façade had faded away.  I cannot sense them!  How are they able to keep up with my speed?

He was now racing down the halls, pursuing the echoes of mocking gaiety.

Prompt 5: 11.) Bit-O-Honey; 12.) Chunky; 13.) Red Hots

The hallways seemed to stretch longer and longer as he tried fruitlessly to catch up to his giggling wife and daughter.  It felt as though there were bits of honey that stuck his feet to the floor as he tried to run.  His irritation at both himself and his females were being fanned into red-hot coals.

He slid to a halt, glancing about the corridors of his home.  Their laughter seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere.  A good chunk of his brain believed that this scenario was false, but his heart feared that something had happened to his family.

Prompt 6: 14.) Runts; 15.) 3 Musketeers

Sesshoumaru closed his eyes and centered himself, taking a deep breath as he blocked out the laughter.  This behavior was very uncharacteristic of his the two members that comprised his immediate family.  His daughter had been the runt, an orphan he had taken in after she had shown him uncommon kindness despite her complete lack of means to provide for herself.

His wife could have passed as a female member of the fabled three musketeers in Alexandre Dumas’s celebrated novel, combining all of their loyalty, cunning, and courage without the unsavory and utterly useless traits of alcoholism, arrogance, and tomfoolery.

Prompt 7: 16.) Life Savers; 17.) Pay Day; 18.) Tootsie Rolls

The hallways were suddenly plunged into darkness.  It was so complete that even he could not peer into the gloom with his exceptional eyesight.  The giggling continued, the tone changing to chuckling mixed with glee.  It was not unlike how his employees sounded on paydays, full of the promise of indulgence and greed.  Sesshoumaru wondered why he was not saving the lives of his two females.  Both were terrified of the dark, and it was even beginning to creep him out.  The lights came back on, blinding him as something whizzed towards him.  He caught it, blinking.  A Tootsie Roll?

Prompt 8: 19.) 100 Grand; 20.) Big Hunk

Sesshoumaru tossed the chocolate candy with a sniff.  The laughter continued, twisting into something infinitely more sinister.

Well, isn’t this just 100% peachy-keen, the inuyoukai thought testily, his moodiness covering the anxiety that clenched his heart.  My wife and daughter are either possessed or evil.  What an absolutely grand finale to end a miserable night.

“Hey there, you big sexy hunk of a man.”  Arms suddenly twined around his neck from behind, and Sesshoumaru spun out of them, claws at the ready.

Kagome blinked languidly with her arms still outstretched while Rin stood behind, quietly watching with a strange smile.

Prompt 9: 21.) Milky Way; 22.) Whoppers; 23.) Airheads

Kagome looks like an airhead, Sesshoumaru thought as he observed the imposter that was his wife.  She was dressed in a negligee dusted with stars like the Milky Way, wearing a smiling but chilling expression.  Rin wore a whopper of a grin, one Sesshoumaru had never seen on her and never wanted to see on her again.  Ever.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

Something foreign flashed in Kagome’s eyes.  “Why Sesshoumaru,” she purred, “I’m your WIFE!”

Sesshoumaru felt himself fade as two pairs of fangs sapped him of his strength.  He could never harm them—he loved them too much.

Prompt 10: 24.) Gummy Worms; 25.) Crunch

Sesshoumaru bolted upright, his body covered in a sheen of sweat.

“Sess?”  Kagome had vainly struggled to wake him from his dream.  She squeaked as he wrapped his arms around her tightly.  She felt the tremors that wracked his body.  “Scared of things that go crunch in the night?”

He chuckled despite himself.  “It’s bump in the night, ‘gome,” he corrected.

She glanced at the clock.  Half past five in the morning.  “Since we’re up…” she wheedled slyly, “I suddenly have a craving for gummy worms…”

Sesshoumaru grinned, exposing his fangs.  “I believe I might be able to help you.”